Class 10, Democratic
Politics - II (NCERT Political Science)

Chapter 6, POLITICAL PARTIES

In
democracies, elections are fought mainly among the candidates put up by
different political parties. Parties select their candidates in different ways.
in India top party leaders choose candidates for contesting elections.

2. Forming
policies and programmes

Parties put
forward different policies and programmes and the voters choose from them.

3. Making
laws

When
parties come into power, they make laws for the country. Formally laws are
debated and passed in the Legislature. Members of the ruling party follow the
directions of the party leaders, irrespective of their personal opinions.

4.
Parties form and run government

Parties
recruit leaders, train them and then make them ministers to run government in
the way they want.

5.
Role of opposition

Parties
that lose in elections, play the role of opposition to the parties in power by
criticizing the government for its failure or wrong policies.

6.
Shaping public opinion

They
raise and highlight issues. Parties have lot of members and activists spread all
over the country. Many of the pressure groups are extension of political
parties among different sections of the society. Parties, sometimes also launch
movements for the resolutions of problems faced by people.

7.
Access to government machinery and welfare schemes

For
any ordinary citizen it is easy to approach a local party leader than a
government officer. That is why they feel close to the parties even when they
do not fully trust them. parties have to responsive to people’s needs and
demands.

Q.2 - Solution:

1.Lack of Internal
Democracy

a.All over the
world there is a tendency of political parties towards concentration of power
in one or few leaders at the top.

b.Not keeping
membership register.

c.They do not
hold regular organizational meetings.

d.They do not
conduct internal elections regularly.

e.Ordinary
members of the party do not have sufficient access or information about the
party affairs.

2.Absence of Transparency

a.Since most
of the parties do not practice transparent procedures for their function, it
becomes very difficult for ordinary members to rise to the top in the party.

b.Leaders in
such parties take undue advantage to favour people close to them or even their
family members.

c.In many such
parties, the top positions are generally controlled by members of one family. This
is bad for democracy since people without adequate experience or electoral
support come to occupy positions of power.

3.Money and
Muscle Power

a.Since
parties are focused only on winning elections, they resolve to unethical
methods to win elections.

b.Parties tend
to nominate those candidates who have or can raise lot of money.

c.Rich people
or organizations who provide funds to the parties tend to influence on policies
and decision making of the party.

4.Meaningful
Choices

a.In order to
offer meaningful choice, parties must be significantly different.

b.In absence
of the above, those who really want different policies have no option available
to them.

c.Sometimes,
people can not elect actually different people since the same set of candidates
keep shifting from one party to another.

Q.3 - Solution:

Political
parties can be easily seen as one of the most visible institutions in
democracies all over the world. The need of political parties lies in the facts
–

1. It brings
different representatives together so that a responsible government can be
formed.

2. They act
as a mechanism to restrict the government from framing any unjust policies or
laws.

3. For most
ordinary citizens, democracy means political parties. It happens because
political parties fulfill the needs and aspirations of the people.

So, political
parties are in fact, a necessary condition in modern democracies.

Q.4 - Solution:

A
political party is a group of people with common ideology who come together to
contest elections and hold power in the Government.

The
characteristics that distinguish political parties from other groups are -

=>
They agree on policies and programmes for the society from which the common
people will be benefitted.

=>
Since there can be different views on what is good for all, parties try to
persuade people why and how their policies are better than others.

=>
They seek to implement these policies by winning popular support through
elections.

=>
A party is known by what it stands for, which policies it supports and whose
interests it upholds.

=>
A party runs with help of its leaders, active members and supporters.

Q.5
- Solution:

The
differences between a National and a Regional / State party are as follows:

1. A party
that secures at least 6% of total votes in an election to the Legislative
Assembly of a State and wins at least 2 seats is recognized as a State party
e.g. Akali Dal of Punjab, Sikkim Democratic Front, Biju Janta Dal, Telugu Desam
of AP etc.

2. A party
that secures at least 6% of total votes in Lok Sabha or Assembly elections in
four States and wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha is recognized as a
National party e.g. Indian National Congress, Bhartiya Janata Party, Communist
Party of India - Marxist (CPI - M), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) etc.

3. The
national parties take interest in National as well as State issues whereas Regional
/ State parties are interested in promoting regional or sate interests
only.

Q.6 - Solution:

The
various roles of the opposition parties in a democracy are listed as follows –

(a) It acts
like a watchdog of democracy. It keeps a check on the role of the Government
(Ruling Party) and restricts them from misusing the power.

(b) It
provides to the people alternative policies and keeps them aware of the failure
of the Government in performing their duties or making wrong policies.

(c) The
opposition is always a viable alternative to the ruling government.

Q.7 - Solution:

Defection
is an act of changing party allegiance from the party on which a person got
elected (to a Legislative body) to a different party. Earlier it has been an
important cause for the formation as well as fall of government. MLAs and MPs
were indulging in defection in order to become ministers or for cash rewards.
Later on the Constitution was amended and defection has been banned by passing
‘Anti Defection Law’.

Q.8
- Solution:

A political
party has three components –

1. Its
leaders

2. Its
active members and

3. Its
followers.

Q.9 - Solution:

=>
In a democracy there is a large number of similar opinions regarding what to be
done for the people. Government needs to evolve a policy out of these. This
work is done by the parties.

=>
It reduces a vast number of opinions into a few basic ones which it supports.
In this way government makes its policies based on the line taken by the ruling
party.

=>
Political parties implement their policies and programmes by winning elections
or gaining popularity in the elections.

Q.10
- Solution:

(a) Affidavit - Affidavit is
a signed document submitted to an officer, where a person makes a sworn
statement regarding his/her personal information.

(b)
Partisan
and Partisanship - In politics, ‘Partisan’ is referred to a person who is strongly committed to a party, group or a
faction. Parties are a part of the society and thus, involve partisanship.
Partisanship is marked by a tendency to take a side or inability to take
balanced views.

(c)
Election Commission - It is an
independent multi-member body which is constituted for the superintendence,
direction and conduct of elections.

(d)
Opposition Party - The party that forms part of a
legislature but is not in the Government is known s Opposition Party. Its main
function is to check the activities of the Government.

(e)
Ruling Party - The party which wins election
with majority and rules the Government is called ‘Ruling Party’.